Date Pudding

 

This year for Christmas dinner

dessert, I made this date pudding.

A light and tasty pudding with

dates soaked in rum, served with a

brown sugar toffee sauce.

This pudding can be made ahead and

frozen to be used later and warmed up

in the microwave. 

I adapted the recipe from 

myislandbistrokitchen.com

Ingredients for Pudding

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp ground *nutmeg

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp salt

About 1 1/3 cups pitted dates, 

coarsely chopped

¼ cup dark rum

1 cup water

1 1/8 tsp baking soda.

¼ cup butter, softened at room temperature

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs at room temperature

Grated rind of an orange 

1½ tbsp pure maple syrup

1½ tsp vanilla

(* Ginger may be used in the place of nutmeg.

 I'm allergic to ginger.)

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, 

baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon,

 cloves and salt. Set aside. 

In a saucepan, combine the dates 

with the 1/4 cup of rum.

Let stand 20 minutes, stirring a few times.

Add the cup of water and bring the dates,

rum and water to a boil,

over medium-high heat.

Reduce the heat to simmer and

 boil gently, uncovered for 

approx. 5 minutes, 

stirring once or twice.

Remove from heat and

add the baking soda and let

stand uncovered for 20 minutes, 

stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350deg.

Place oven rack in bottom third of oven.

Grease a 9 inch square pan, a bundt pan,

 or 10 individual ramekins 

While date mixture is cooling, 

Beat butter and the sugars together 

with an electric mixer.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, 

beating well after each addition.

Beat in orange rind, maple syrup

 and vanilla.

Stir in the flour mixture.

Add in the dates.

Grease ten (10) 1/2 cup ramekins and 

place on a baking sheet.

Fill each dish no more than 2/3 full.

Smooth over tops.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a 

toothpick inserted in the centre 

 comes out clean.

I didn't have 10 ramekins,

I filled 8.

Run tip off a knife around each pudding 

to loosen and turn out on to 

individual serving plates.

Serve warm with sauce and if desired,

a dollop of whipping cream or 

a scoop of vanilla or maple ice cream. 

Sometimes I serve the pudding,

 topped with table cream

 or ice cream instead 

of the toffee sauce.

TheToffee Sauce

Ingredients for Toffee Sauce:

¾ cup butter
1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
¾ cup whipping cream (35% M.F.)
2 tbsp rum
2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Add the cream and reduce heat to simmer.

Cook slowly, stirring occasionally,

 until sauce is slightly thick, 

about 6-8 minutes.

 Remove from heat and stir in the rum and vanilla.

Serve warm over the date pudding. 

(Sauce will thicken as it starts to cool slightly).

**********

Actually I found this Toffee Sauce to be too much,

too big,  but delicious. 

Next time, I'll cut the ingredients in 1/2.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for your visit 

🎅🎅🎅